1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to infant accessories, and more particularly, to absorbent devices for mounting near a mouthpiece of a baby bottle.
2. Description of the Related Art
When drinking from a bottle or capped cup, infants and young children often allow significant amounts of liquid unintentionally to leak or spill past their lips. This can result in waste, soiling of clothing, chapping of skin and even hygiene problems at the folds of infants"" necks.
A number of absorbent bibs are designed to surround nursing bottles in a structurally supportive fashion to prevent soiling of clothing. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,907 issued to Maillard shows an infant bib that can hold a baby bottle. The bib has a portion covering a chest area of the infant and an enclosure for the bottle, which is insulated to maintain a bottle temperature. In a disposable embodiment, the bib and enclosure include an absorbent material resembling diaper material, which can contain outer porous sheets. The bib is designed to permit the infant to feed itself.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,898,940 issued to Cameron shows a combined baby bib and bottle for infants. A cloth has a neck hole and an attached bottle holder capable of holding all sizes of bottles for feeding a baby. A panel may be formed of absorbent materials, such as broadcloth, blended fabric or other soft material retained in an interior cavity as an absorbing agent. The bottle holder is formed of a stretchable material such as elastic, which firmly holds the bottle for consumption by the baby without requiring the support by another.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,225 issued to Goeckeritz et al. shows a holder for a baby bottle which positions the bottle in close proximity to an infant""s mouth. The bottle holder is attached to a bib, and has straps to form a harness that holds the bottle. Using the harness, the bottle can be stabilized in a predetermined position on a reclined baby that may be moving its arms and legs.
It is also well known to wrap an absorbent cloth, such as a napkin, around a neck of a bottle after pouring a liquid from the bottle. For example, a cloth napkin is often wrapped around a neck of an open bottle of champagne for absorbing excess liquid.
It would be an improvement to the art of absorbent drinking accessories to have an absorbent device designed for positioning in closer proximity to the child""s mouth than the absorbent bottle-holding bibs of the inventions cited above. The device should prevent a child from dribbling liquid down his chin, into the creases of his neck and onto his clothing.
The invention comprises a unique absorbent device that mounts to a baby bottle or other drink container for compressing against a baby""s, child""s or other user""s chin and for wiping the mouth. The device has a collar for mounting to a neck of the bottle. An absorbent panel is attached to the collar, and extends from the collar toward a mouthpiece of the bottle or cup.
The panel is preferably a soft absorbent material, and the collar is a sheath of material surrounding a compressible material. The collar extends around the neck of the bottle or other drink container, and the panel extends around the collar at least the width of the baby""s chin. In a preferred embodiment, the panel has opposing edges tapered downwardly to the collar.